‘Survivor’ Finale On Par, ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Closer Slips From Last Season

TV networks continue to switch to a holiday mode, with more fall finales and holiday specials last night. CBS’ Survivor ended its 29th season with a closer that spilled well into the 10 PM hour. In the 8-10 PM time period, which didn’t include the winner announcement, Survivor averaged a 2.4 rating in adults 18-49. That is even with last week and down two-tenths from the finales of last season’s two installments, currently the lowest ever for the veteran reality franchise, but Survivor likely will close the gap with an upward adjustment in the finals. CBS won the night in 18-49 and total viewers.

Also closing a season was Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen, which drew a 1.3 in 18-49 from 8-10 PM vs. 1.2 and 1.3 for its back-to-back episodes last week. That was down from the 1.7 for last season’s finale.

The last series to air a fall finale last night was the CW’s The 100 (0.5), which was down 17% from last week, when it had the Arrow fall finale as a lead-in vs. a repeat of a holiday commercials special last night.

NBC aired another Michael Buble Christmas special (1.3), even with last year’s special. In total viewers (7.3 million), it was the most watched of the four Buble holiday specials NBC has done. The Sing-Off started off with a 1.3, down 19% from the corresponding episode of the a cappella singing competition last December.